We are once again joined by Ball Horticultural’s Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy who I referred to in episode 21 as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in all things greenhouse production. Our topic continues… watering and water management. These two episodes work best in tandem so try to listen to part one – The Language of Watering – before jumping into this one.

In the first part – which you can find on your favorite podcast player or linked below - Dr. Healy delved into the importance of speaking the same language of watering throughout the company and qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water management so that accuracy and efficiency can be achieved.

This episode takes it to the next level getting into specific plant demands, how to determine wet/dry targets, how to optimize any greenhouse for water management and even suggests an inexpensive gift for all of your production team members.

This episode of STEM: Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros addresses one of the most basic tasks in a professional greenhouse, watering. But proving that water management is fundamental and critical, we are joined by Ball Horticultural’s Senior Technical & Research Manager Dr. Will Healy – one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts in all things greenhouse production. He’s also a great story teller, which you will learn throughout the episodes. And yes, I did say episodes because this one is a two-parter. Watering and water management is SO critical that we invited a PhD to help us learn as much as possible about it AND will spend two sessions on the topic. The first part will be all about The Language of Watering and this one is perfect to share with your entire production team and others across your organization.

As Dr. Healy will help us understand, speaking the same language of watering throughout the company is critical and there are qualitative and quantitative ways to teach water management so that accuracy and efficiency can be achieved. Getting watering right WILL reduce your costs and result in better crops.

So gather your team, grab a pen and notepad and get ready for part one in a two part session on watering.

It’s hard to believe that this is the 20th episode of STEM – Insider Tips for Greenhouse Pros. And this time we’re talking to our first returning guest. Ever since the first episode of STEM launched, I’ve thought about more topics to discuss with Marvin, from industry data and research to current product trends and consumer groups. Now, seemed like as good a time as any, with another season of travels under his belt and new industry data and research being released.

Dr. Marvin Miller recently celebrated 35 years as Ball Horticultural’s Market Research Manager and he’s quick to remind me that he has been studying our industry for longer than that and also that being a researcher means he has looked at data going back far beyond those 35 plus years. Bottom line – Marvin has a ton of knowledge and ideas to share. And because his first episode was on the shorter side of STEM as we’ve progressed through 20 episodes, I decided to turn off the timer and let him go.

This one’s almost an hour but it’s worth every minute. We start by going through some current industry research and data related to today’s consumer and setting participation and consumption records and quickly move into topics ranging from the current indoor plant trend and potential of the cut flower market to millennials as consumers. We also discuss lessons learned from more than 15 trips to Alaska and what politicians can learn from a pod of whales. Seriously – I’m not joking about that one. We also talk about how social media is like the shopping malls of the 1980s! You’ll want to listen all the way to the end of this one – Dr. Marvin Miller… Unplugged.

Ball Seed recently hosted a meeting of our supplier partners and rooting stations that featured speakers addressing shared production challenges and offering many technical and cultural strategies. One of the top-rated speakers coming out of our post-event survey work was today’s guest. We asked him to join us on STEM to go through some of the concepts he presented at the meeting. We’re excited to be joined this time by Darwin Perennials’ Karl Batschke who’s going to take us through some new ways to better produce some of the latest and greatest perennial genetics.

But he’s not going to talk about the easy ones. Instead, Karl will address some of the more challenging crops and also new crops that require new cultural and technical regimes. Let’s call them the Perennial Problem Children. And like a good guidance counselor, Karl will treat each one as an individual and create a custom plan to maximize their potential and achieve the results you want – the best crop you can produce.

But since we have Karl on the hook for 40 minutes, we’re also going to ask him plenty of questions about the current market for perennials, what he’s seeing and hearing in his travels and thoughts and predictions for the future. Karl has tons of industry knowledge and experience and we’re really happy to have this chance to pick his brain for a bit.

In this episode, we talk with one of my favorite industry people, Sakata Seed America’s Jamie Kitz about a whole range of topics. We start with plants – seed annuals, vegetative annuals, cut flowers and vegetables and then transition to industry support, charitable giving and philanthropy. Throughout we share tons of industry ideas and dig into where Jamie gets her energy and inspiration that’s so infectious. We wrap the episode up talking about the Sakata Gives program and actionable ways to bring a similar sense of corporate mission to your organization. And trust me, it’s not the old way of directing employees to give to a charity selected by corporate management. It’s far more grassroots these days.

Host Bill Calkins takes the mic this episode to address a challenge he keeps running into when he talks to garden center retailers at industry events – an emerging disconnect between the retail experience they are trying to create and the plants and service available from their wholesale grower suppliers.

Susan Yoder is executive director of Seed Your Future, an organization that’s working hard to engage the next generations of horticulture professionals. In this episode we’ll discuss current programs and future strategies to promote our industry and the passionate people that make it strong and relevant.

With decades of experience, Gary Vollmer has a passion for poinsettias. Our discussion is equal parts history lesson, poinsettia selection and development insight and hardcore production tips and tricks. You’re going to love it!

In this episode we are lucky to be joined by Jason Grimmett, Key Account Manager for Philips Lighting. LED technology is all the talk these days and I know for a fact growers have a lot of questions about this new lighting option.

Perennials experts Leland Toering and Chris Fifo share best practices, tips & tricks, favorite varieties and pitfalls to avoid in this episode completely dedicated to perennials. From reasons behind current market growth and recent breeding breakthroughs to where the perennials industry is heading, these guys cover the market from all angles.